Dream Wings, the Job Seeking Competition

Time:2012-05-03 08:37:42 Clicks:

Dream Wings, the bilingual job seeking competition, was one of the activities held during the month of English Culture in the International School. It was held in connection with the entrepreneurial skills competition, to engender a learning environment. Its aim was to enhance students’employment and entrepreneurial aptitude. Through simulated job interviews held on campus, professional learning and individual aptitude were brought together, strengthening bilingual skills, laying a solid foundation for students’future employment.

On 13th April, Gao Wenlei, Head of Learning, was interviewed by the author of this article. Gao talked much about the competition, underlining the importance of the innovation to use “case study” instead of “impromptu speech”. He thought the former bears some resemblance to how companies recruit, putting contestants in an authentic situation, and therefore can add real experience and competency. As to the details of this competition, Gao pointed out that in the preliminary round, contestants had to send their resumes to a specified email address. The second round comprised a written test and an interview to be conducted separately, and with the selection carried out in separate stages.

Gao added that, in organising this bilingual job seeking competition, there remained much that could be improved on, for example, the pre-event publicity fell short of expectation, and with the delay came problems when students signed up. Although these problems were sorted before the competition, student participation was not as good as they had anticipated.

Considering that this year is the 10th anniversary of the International School, Gao said，”This competition reflects the direction taken by the International School when organising activities - to be more professional and more practical. Dream Wings is an important part of the School’s English Activities Month, and is also the highlight of the 10th anniversary activities.”

Gao hopes to strengthen cooperation and exchange with other departments when his department organises such competitions again in the future. He also hopes that many more experts from well known corporations and alumni could be invited, providing guidance to contestants, and at the same time, internship opportunities for the winners.